In With the Old : A Cappella Ensemble Finds Repertory From Archives Has a Newness to It

The Hilliard Ensemble has made a considerable reputation by ignoring most of Western art music. “We stop around the year 1600 and pick up about 75 years ago,” says countertenor David James. “We miss out on about 300 years of classical repertoire.”

James was speaking from Columbus, Ohio, where the London-based male quartet was singing before two Sunday engagements in Orange County--at the Irvine Barclay Theatre at 3 p.m. and the Bowers Museum of Cultural Art at 8 p.m. (The a cappella ensemble is sponsored by the Philharmonic Society.)

The Hilliard, named after Elizabethan miniatures painter Nicholas Hilliard, was formed in London in 1974 when James and three other student singers who were interested in early music decided it “would be nice to choose our own repertoire rather than having someone else tell us, ‘This is what you do.’ But we didn’t do very much for the first five or six years.”

The current members are James, tenors Rogers Covey-Crump and John Potter, and baritone Gordon Jones. “Three of the four of us have been in it for 12 years,” James said. “Jones joined in 1990, and the result was almost a rebirth for us. We decided to be more democratic and have no leader. I like to think the group is the four of us now.”

Their program at the Irvine theater will consist of sacred music from five centuries and six countries. The program at the Bowers will consist of secular music and is partly tied to the current “Visions of Guadalupe” exhibition there.

Singing such early repertory lands the singers squarely within the scholarly revolution that has come to dominate the early-music scene, which means they have had to mind their scholarly Ps and Qs.

“In the last 25 years, the musicology on these topics really has gotten overwhelming,” James said. “We take the view that there is not one way it should go. Every scholar has a point to get across, and deviation from that is almost sacrilegious to academics. But we take a more practical view. They give us very good guidance. But somehow the final decision rests with the performers themselves. . . .

“Remember, we’re performing before a live audience, giving them an opportunity to hear some fantastic music,” he continued. “We do it in the most amenable form in a live forum. We’re not doing anything very different from what people did at the time. They were always experimenting, I can tell you. A [manuscript] was a guideline. The music only came alive off the paper when they performed it.”

Similarly, although the sound of a countertenor is virtually synonymous with early music, James is quite clear to distinguish himself from any medieval counterpart.

“In historical terms, I’m not a countertenor,” he said. “Modern countertenors never existed in the 15th Century. They would not have heard the actual sound I make in the 15th Century. This is really simplistic, but a modern countertenor is a product of the 20th Century using 19th- and 20th-Century techniques of singing. It’s ideal for the top line. It balances the other voices. It’s quite pure and strong and not at all effeminate. This is much closer to the male sound.”

Early music represents only one pole of the Hilliard repertory, however. Contemporary works, including some written for them by such composers as Arvo Part, figure prominently on their programs too.

“We find the juxtaposition of ‘old’ music and a piece only written this year is exhilarating,” James said. “Both are alive to us. We don’t think something written in the 14th Century is an ‘old’ composition.

“Quite often, the audience can feel some confusion about which piece was written this year and which was written in the 15th Century. It’s incredibly how contemporary these composers are. People writing in the 15th Century could have been writing five years ago.”

Last year, the ensemble teamed up with jazz saxophonist Jan Garbarek on “Officium,” a best-selling album that further showed how contemporary the old music can be. On that album, Garbarek improvises as the quartet sings 12th- to 16th-Century liturgical works.

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“We had no idea it would be the success it would be,” James said. “It was obvious it clicked musically and artistically when we got together, and it was electrifying from the moment we started.

“I listen to this CD now, and if anything, I realize even more how great this [old] music is,” he said. “I love it even more.”

An “Officium” concert had been announced for Orange County, but it just wasn’t possible because Garbarek and his band had to be on tour in Europe. “He couldn’t rearrange his schedule,” James said.

Besides, he added, “ ‘Officium’ is a special project, and we are getting more and more particular about the venues we do it in. We can’t just do a concert of ‘Officium’ whenever people ask. There has got to be a church and an acoustic that we’re satisfied with. . . .

“We’re a bit nervous about doing the program in a concert hall. We like to sing in a good church. We need some place where the sounds hang in the air so people have time to hear the harmonies. When the upper harmonics get going, it becomes a fuller sound than four of us singing individually. The sound stops in front of us if the hall is too dry.”

* The Hilliard Ensemble will sing Sunday at 3 p.m. at the Irvine Barclay Theatre, 4242 Campus Drive, Irvine ($15 to $25) and at 8 p.m. at the Bowers Museum of Cultural Art, 2002 N. Main St., Santa Ana ($20). (714) 553-2422.